1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of playing cards, particularly playing cards used in wagering games, and more particularly the security of playing cards with respect to spurious information and defects in the back surfaces of playing cards.
2. Background of the Art
Even with the highly electronic advances that have occurred within the gaming industry, playing cards, dice and other physical gaming objects are still important implements within gaming venues. Playing cards in particular are suspect of and capable of manipulation by players because of the intimate and repeated contact of the playing cards by the players.
Card games and card tournaments can involve millions of dollars in individual and total prizes. Some players have attempted to mark playing cards on the backs or edges of cards so that the markings enable them to identify the suit and rank of cards without having the faces of the cards exposed. This provides a significant advantage to players versus other players or the house. Even though marking has been going on for over a hundred years, and even though cards are visually inspected by dealers and automated systems can inspect cards, newer techniques and more sophisticated markings or defects can still go undetected. New types of markings are invisible to the naked eye, but can be clearly seen with the help of specially made contact lenses and glasses and small portable cameras with built in video transmitters. Small CPUs in pockets transfer the information to the player via wireless, inductive earphone. The marked cards (packaged in original boxes and sealed), chemicals and cheating devices are being widely sold over Internet for the last couple of years. As recently as May 2013, an international professional poker player was accused of cheating (and winning over 10 million dollars) in a major tournament by reading variations in printed patterns on the backs of playing cards. This is asserted to have occurred in spite of the casino supplying and controlling the cards, regular change of decks of cards, and constant dealer examination of the cards.
The types of markings that can be provided on backs and sides of playing cards include at least, visible ink, invisible (e.g., infrared and/or ultraviolet reflecting ink), solvents that smear existing inks, abrading or cutting marks, matting agents that alter reflectivity of surfaces, bending or curling of cards, and the like, alone or in combinations. Manual inspection can be done visually (with or without red color glasses that enhance viewability of the one part of the visible spectrum, but markings in infrared or UV can't be detected with naked eye), manually (feeling for abrasions or marks) and by combinations of these actions.
Many different types of automated reading, sensing and optical electrical or electromechanical systems are known for use in reading or sensing playing cards. A non-limiting sampling of those types of systems is reviewed below.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,403,908 (Stardust) discloses an automated method and apparatus for sequencing and/or inspecting decks of playing. The method and apparatus utilizes pattern recognition technology or other image comparison technology to compare one or more images of a card with memory containing known good images of a complete deck of playing cards to identify each card as it passes through the apparatus. Once the card is identified, it is temporarily stored in a location corresponding to or identified according to its position in a properly sequenced deck of playing cards. Once a full set of cards has been stored, the cards are released in proper sequence to a completed deck hopper. The method and apparatus also includes an operator interface capable of displaying a magnified version of potential defects or problem areas contained on a card which then may be viewed by the operator on a monitor or screen and either accepted or rejected via operator input. The present invention is also capable of providing an overall wear rating for each deck of playing cards. In order to certify that deck of playing cards is good and acceptable for play, the casino must ascertain that: (1) there is one and only one of each type (i.e. by suit and rank) of playing card in the deck of playing cards, (2) all of the backs of the playing cards contained in the deck are of the same color, (3) there are no defective playing cards (i.e. torn or cracked cards, cards with dimples or fingernail marks, cards with missing print or cards with spots), and (4) there are no boxed cards (cards facing backwards, etc.) contained in the deck of playing cards. Imaging cameras are used to obtain one or more images of each side of the card after the double card check is made. A low resolution is made of the front to determine suit and rank and back to determine color of the card. Generally, high resolution imaging is utilized to determine fine marks and problems. If the system is not in an inspect mode, it is possible to use the cameras simply to image a corner of the card, since the information necessary as to color and suit and rank is available in this portion of each card.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,941,769 (Order) discloses that in professional use in table games of chance with playing cards are provided which will register and evaluate all phases of the run of the game automatically. This is achieved by a card shoe with an integrated device for recognition of the value of the drawn cards (optical recognition device and mirroring into a CCD-image converter); photodiodes arranged under the table cloth to register separately the casino light passing through each area for placing the gaming chips and areas for placing the playing cards in dependence of the arrangement or movement of the chips and playing cards on the mentioned areas; a device for automatic recognition of each bet (scanner or a RFID-system comprising a S/R station and gaming objects with integrated transponder); an EDP program created in accordance with the gaming rules to evaluate and store all data transmitted from the functional devices to the computer; and a monitor to display the run of the game and players' wins.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,770,533 (Franchi) describes a casino operating system for controlling the flow of funds and monitoring gambling activities in a casino or a gaming establishment utilizing a network of computers, including a central computer and individual game computers. Each player receives an encoded betting card from the cashier. At the games, each player position is equipped with a control panel including a card reader into which the betting card is inserted. The control panel also includes an electronic screen and keyboard. From the control panel, the player may place a bet and perform all options available to the player in the particular game. The system records the hands dealt to each player and the winner, and credits or debits the player's betting card accordingly. In an alternative embodiment, the casino operating system allows the players to use chips to place bets instead of the above-described betting card. The chips are marked or encoded so that they can be counted once final bets have been placed to determine the amount of each player's bet. In games requiring the placement of bets in certain positions on the gaming table, each player may be provided with a betting marker used to indicate the position of his bets on the table, a touch-sensitive screen maybe used whereby bets are placed by touching the desired position on the screen, or a two-way remote control console for placing bets. The casino operating system is an open architecture system adaptable to accommodate the differing needs of each casino.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,531,187 (Uhland) describes a system for monitoring the play at gambling games is disclosed. The preferred embodiment comprises a system for monitoring the play at blackjack as that game is played in casinos. The system typically will comprise video monitor means for generating a digital representation of the bets made by the players and of the cards dealt to the players and to the dealer, so that an output can be generated indicating whether the correct payouts are made and bets collected. An alarm signal is generated if an error is made in the play of the game. An alarm signal may also be generated if the long-term statistics of the game indicate that the odds ordinarily applicable to the game have been departed from over a period of time.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,221,244 (French) describes methods and systems for intelligent tracking and/or play and/or management of card gaming use an intelligent card distribution or holding device with detectors for determining the value and unique identity of individual cards and for recording card play. Playing cards are equipped with a read/write data storage connected to a transponder and/or incorporated into electromagnetic writable particles or smart particles (smart dust). A system of the invention records various game play events on the playing cards themselves during game play and optionally also in a database on the system. In specific embodiments, the principal scanning and writing elements and electronic and optical interfaces are embodied into a hand-held card holder (HHCH). The system can scan playing cards, scan gaming chips, indicate a player's win/loss/draw, increase or decrease player betting positions, and compute awards to players based on their playing activity.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,967,672 (Shigeta) describes a card reading device that comprises a rail for guiding a card; card sensors for detecting a passing card which is slid by hand and guided by the rail, which are placed in a card sliding direction with a certain gap; and reading sensors for reading code attached to the card, which are placed between the two card sensors in the card sliding direction. The card have the code which is printed in UV-luminous ink on the card, and the code comprises at least two code rows which are placed across the card sliding direction with a certain gap. The two reading sensors are placed in positions which correspond to the gap of the two code rows, and the card sensors output signal for detecting a position of the passing card.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,629,894 (Purton) describes a card inspection device that includes a first loading area adapted to receive one or more decks of playing cards. A drive roller is located adjacent the loading area and positioned to impinge on a card if a card were present in the loading area. The loading area has an exit through which cards are urged, one at a time, by a feed roller. A transport path extends from the loading area exit to a card accumulation area. The transport path is further defined by two pairs of transport rollers, one roller of each pair above the transport path and one roller of each pair below the transport path. A camera is located between the two pairs of transport rollers, and a processor governs the operation of a digital camera and the rollers. A printer produces a record of the device's operation based on an output of the processor, and a portion of the transport path is illuminated by one or more blue LEDs. Preferably a low temperature source of light is located so as to illuminate the area of the card that is being scanned.
The computer or signal processor compiles the scan data and reports and records the result of the scans of all of the cards in the one or more decks. FIG. 15 illustrates how a card transport path 400 may be subdivided by locating baffles above or below the roller pairs in order to create distinct zones. Each zone may have a particular form of detector, polarimeter, diode or line scanner as well as a particular light source or lighting method. By locating sensors both above and below the transport path, both sides of the card may be examined simultaneously. This provides the opportunity to detect suit and value of an inverted card as well as increasing the sophistication with which tampering may be detected. Polarized light may be used to detect certain forms of tampering. In such a case, the polarity of the light source may be rotated during the detection process. Similarly, a non-polarized source may be moved during the detection process to create a moving shadow. One or more light sources may be movable or set to illuminate off-axis so that certain forms of scratches and pinholes may be more easily detected by their shadow or reflectance. It is contemplated that both color and monochrome imaging methods may provide useful information about the condition of the cards. Similarly both digital and analogue sensing methods are seen to have independent utility and functionality with regard to both suit and value detection as well as the detection of faults, wear and tampering. It should be noted that the compartmentalization of the card transport path into distinct lighting and sensing zones may be applied to any embodiment disclosed.
Published U.S. Patent Application Document No. 20050242500 (Downs III) describes a sensing system for determining the rank and suit of playing cards. The system includes a sensing module capable of reading a line of data from a printed image, a position sensor and a hardware component that combines the signals from the sensing module and position sensor, converts the signal to binary values and compares the converted signal to stored signals. The comparisons are correlated to identify card rank and Suit. The system can be used in a playing card delivery shoe used to control the game of baccarat. The shoe may be a customary dealing shoe equipped with a sensing module, or may be a mechanized shoe. The mechanized shoe may comprise a) an area for receiving a first set of playing cards useful in the play of the casino table card game of baccarat; b) first card mover that moves playing cards from the first set to a playing card staging area wherein at least one playing card is staged in an order by which playing cards are removed from the first set of and moved to the playing card staging area; c) second playing card mover that moves playing cards from the playing card staging area to a delivery area wherein playing cards removed from the staging area to the delivery shoe are moved in the same order by which playing cards were removed from the first set of playing cards and moved to the playing card staging area; and d) playing card reading sensors that read at least one playing card value of each playing card separately after each playing card has been removed from the area for receiving the first set of playing cards and before removal from the playing card delivery area One exemplary sensing system is a CIS line scanning system with an associated card position sensor and a FPGA hardware element.
Published U.S. Patent Application Document No. 20070018389 (Downs III) describes a method and an apparatus determines at least one of rank or suit of a playing card. The apparatus has at least one two-dimensional complementary metal oxide semiconductor imaging system that provides a signal when playing cards are moved over the system. The signal is a series of gray scale values that are converted into binary values. The sensed data is transmitted to a hardware component that identifies at least one of rank and suit to an external data storage device.
Published U.S. Patent Application Document No. 20070102879 (Stasson) describes a playing card shuffling device has a visual display in information communication with the playing card shuffling device. At least one processor is programmed to provide displayable information to the visual display indicative of an amount of time remaining or time expired in a procedure performed by the shuffling device. FIG. 1 shows a partial perspective view of the top surface of a first shuffling and card verification apparatus according to a practice of the invention. In this example of the invention, the device randomizes and/or verifies one or two decks of cards. The shuffling apparatus has a card accepting/receiving area that is preferably provided with a stationary lower support surface that slopes downwardly from the nearest outer side of the shuffling and verifying apparatus. A depression is provided in that nearest outer side to facilitate an operator's ability to place or remove cards into the card accepting/receiving area. The top surface of the shuffling and verifying apparatus is provided with a visual display (e.g., LED, liquid crystal, micro monitor, semiconductor display, multi-segment display, etc.), and a series of buttons, touch pads, lights and/or displays. These elements on the top surface of the shuffling and verifying device may act to indicate power availability (on/off), shuffler state (jam, active shuffling, completed shuffling cycle, insufficient numbers of cards, missing cards, sufficient numbers of cards, complete deck(s), damaged or marked cards, entry functions for the dealer to identify the number of players, the number of cards per hand, access to fixed programming for various games, the number of decks being shuffled, card calibration information, mode of operation (i.e. shuffling, verifying or both shuffling and verifying) and the like), or other information useful to the operator or casino. Among the non-limiting examples of these techniques are 1) a sensor so that when a pre-selected portion of the card (e.g., leading edge, trailing edge, and mark or feature on the card) passes a reading device, such as an optical reader, the bottom pick-off roller is directed to disengage, revolve freely, or withdraw from the bottom of the set of cards; 2) the first set of nip rollers or off-set rollers may have a surface speed that is greater than the surface speed of the bottom pick-off roller, so that engagement of a card applies tension against the bottom pick-off roller and the roller disengages with free rolling gearing, so that no forward moving forces are applied to the first card or any other card exposed upon movement of the first card; 3) a timing sequence so that, upon movement of the bottom pick-off roller for a defined period of time or for a defined amount of rotation (which correlates into a defined distance of movement of the first card), the bottom pick-off roller disengages, withdraws, or otherwise stops applying forces against the first card and thereby avoids applying forces against any other cards exposed by movement of the first card from the card accepting/receiving area 106 and 4) providing a stepped surface (not shown) between pick-off roller and off-set rollers 146 that contacts a leading edge of each card and will cause a card to be held up or retained in the event that more than one card feeds at a time.
Shuffler systems, especially those having a scanning system, can be converted to card inspections systems or may have card inspection systems according to the present technology integrated into the shufflers, randomizers and playing card delivery systems. Examples of such card moving systems include, but are not limited to U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,210,536; 8,210,535; 8,205,884; 8,191,894; 8,170,323; 8,150,875; 8,118,305; 8,109,514; 8,070,574; RE 42,944; U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,038,521; 8,025,294; 8,012,029; 8,011,661; 8,002,638; 7,988,152; 7,976,023; 7,971,881; 7,967,294; 7,950,663; 7,946,586; 7,933,448; 7,933,444; 7,854,430; 7,784,790; 7,769,232; 7,764,836; 7,753,373; 7,717,427; 7,699,694; 7,677,566; 7,677,565; 7,669,852; 7,597,623; 7,594,660; 7,593,544; 7,584,963; 7,584,962; 7,434,805; 7,413,191; 7,407,438; 7,384,044; 7,374,170; 7,367,884; 7,367,561; 7,338,044; 6,676,127; 6,659,461; 6,655,684; 6,651,982; 6,651,981; 6,588,750; and 6,588,750.
Other disclosures have also contemplated optically reading of playing cards. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,582,301; 6,039,650; and 5,722,893 to Hill et al. describes a shoe with a card scanner, which optically scans a playing card as the card moves out of shoe. The card suit and value is then recognized by a neural-network algorithm. Other disclosures have also attempted to track cards by use of card shoes that optically recognize the cards as they are drawn from the shoe. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,941,769 and 6,460,848 disclose a card shoe with an optical device that deflects and transmits a reflected image of the card value imprint from the drawn playing card to a CCD image converter. Still other disclosures have attempted to combine detection of playing cards optically and gambling chips by some means. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,605,334; 6,093,103 and 6,117,012 to McCrea et al., disclose a game table system for monitoring each hand in a progressive live card game. The system comprises a shoe that optically detects the value and suit of each card, a game bet sensor to detect the presence or absence of a bet, a card sensor located at each player position to detect the presence or absence of a playing card, and a game control. The game control receives information on the presence or absence of a bet or playing card to ensure a bet is placed before the playing card is dealt.
Published U.S. Patent Application Document No. 20100019449 (Downs III) describes how a playing card delivery shoe is used in the play of the casino table card game of baccarat or blackjack or any game where cards are pulled one at a time from the shoe. The apparatus comprises a reader or an imager that scans lines bisecting the image at spaced intervals. The scanning occurs on playing cards in at least the region where suit and rank symbols are provided. The scanner output is a series of voltages that are converted to binary information. This binary information is compared to stored binary information to determine rank and suit. The upper surface of the output end of the shoe contains a partial barrier for cards being scanned. The partial barrier has an elevated surface and limits a size of a pathway so that only one card can be removed at a time.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,460,848 (Soltys) describes a system that automatically monitors playing and wagering of a game, including the gaming habits of players and the performance of employees. A card deck reader automatically reads a symbol from each card in a deck of cards before a first one of the cards is removed. The symbol identifies a respective rank and suit of the card. There are numerous other related patents including U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,712,696; 6,688,979; 6,685,568; 6,663,490; 6,652,379; 6,638,161; 6,595,857; 6,579,181; 6,579,180; 6,533,662; 6,533,276; 6,530,837; 6,530,836; 6,527,271; 6,520,857; 6,517,436; and 6,517,435.
Other systems known to be available for reading of card symbols (e.g., suits and rank) include at least WIPO Published Application WO/2000/051076 (Dolphin); Published U.S. Patent Application Documents No. 2011020175; 2010061342; 20040026636; and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,726,205; 6,527,191; 6,533,276 and 8,020,869. All of the references cited herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety to provide enabling background for systems and technology and methods.